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“They all agreed,” Fallon assured me. “They all want to go with you because they care about you.”
His voice was unexpectedly gentle. This development in character was new to me. Fallon had always been the gruff, unwavering leader. His display of tenderness was off-putting but not unwanted.
Blinking back tears, I took a step closer to him. His shoulder-length brown hair was down today, instead of in its usual ponytail. A loose strand curled around his eye, and I absently brushed it behind his ear.
“Thank you,” I said. His eyes were soft as they traced my features.
“You’re welcome.”
“Are we going to get going yet?” Ryder called from the front porch. “My suitcase is heavy!”
“That’s because he’s too shallow to allow the suitcase to touch the ground,” Asher said.
Ryder gasped in mock-outrage. “It’s designer!”
Rolling my eyes, I smirked up at Fallon.
“I call whatever car Ryder is not in. I don’t think I have the stomach for a five hour lecture on the importance of elegant luggage.”
Fallon shuddered. “He’s sometimes a very effective torture tool.”
* * *
Unfortunately,neither Fallon nor I got our wish.
We found ourselves in a large white van. The boys played rock-paper-scissors to determine seating arrangements. At first I thought they were arguing over who would get shotgun, but when Asher won with a whoop, he immediately crawled into the seat beside mine. Ronan had also won, and he took the seat on my other side.
Grumbling, Calax reluctantly took the front seat, and the other guys crowded in wherever they could fit. Tamson was under Mof duty. The cat seemed to have picked Tam as his favorite, only allowing the shy boy to pet him and carry him. Fallon declared that he, and only he, would drive.
“I don’t want a repeat of last time,” he had said, giving Ryder a pointed look. I never did figure out what happened, but, from the shudders of the other guys, I reasoned that it wasn’t pretty.
I was overcome with fatigue only a couple of minutes into the drive. Yawning, I rested my head on Asher’s shoulder.
“Comfy,” I murmured sleepily.
“Go ahead and sleep, sweetheart,” Asher said. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”
I was more than happy to oblige.
* * *
I openedmy eyes to see that I was no longer in the car, but a field. The grass was a vibrant green, manicured down to perfection. The sky, a light blue with a yellow tang from the sun, smiled down at me. The sight was peaceful, serene, as if I had stepped into an entirely new world.
A new life.
Somewhere in the distance, children began to laugh. The sound made goosebumps erupt on my skin.
Pulling myself onto my elbows, I surveyed the scene before me.
I was underneath a single tee, the boughs protecting me from the punishing sun. Everywhere I looked, a roiling landscape greeted me. It seemed to go on and on forever, an endless carpet of green. Wiggling my bare toes - what the hell happened to my shoes? - I allowed myself to relax. Despite the strange location, I didn’t feel threatened. If anything, I felt awfully calm, as if I was were I was meant to be.
“Hello?” I called, scrambling to my feet. It might’ve been a dumb idea to call out in this unfamiliar place - hello, I have watched enough horror movies with Asher - but the sudden silence was discerning. Weren’t there children earlier? I could’ve sworn I heard laughter.
Wiping dirt from my pants, I turned in a circle, taking in everything. There was not a single soul besides me and the tree. That is, if trees even have souls. Who was I to judge their worthiness to have a soul? I wasn’t the soul judger person thing-
Focus, Addie.
It was almost annoying that I couldn’t stay on topic for more than five seconds before my brain wandered.
